In the context of automation engineering, field devices are frequently employed for process instrumentation, being used e.g. for capturing and/or influencing process variables, and being connected together by an automation network for the purpose of exchanging data, in particular via a field bus. Field devices which capture physical or chemical quantities as process variables are often referred to as measuring transducers, since they transform the relevant quantity into a measured value and output said value e.g. to a supervisory station at a higher level or as an actual value to a control unit for further processing. Examples of such measuring transducers include measuring transducers for fill level, flow rate, pressure, temperature, pH value, conductivity, etc.
Measuring transducers often have a modular structure. In the case of a measuring transducer for magnetically inductive flow measurement, for example, a sensor is used for capturing the flow speed as a physical quantity of a medium flowing through a measuring tube, and for generating a measurement signal which corresponds to the flow speed. An analysis entity is used for further analysis of the measurement signal and for performing the communication tasks, which include monitoring and diagnostic functions in addition to the transmission of the measured values. Depending on the measurement signal, the analysis entity calculates a measured value for the flow speed and outputs this via the communication interface for further processing, e.g. to a supervisory station at a higher level or to a control unit for flow control. Analysis units are often also referred to as transmitters.